Hawaii Resort Gets $82 Million Loan

A Manhattan-based real estate investment bank has arranged $82 million in financing for a newly renovated Hawaii resort. Sonnenblick-Goldman Company provided the floating rate financing for the Kona-based Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa. Kona is the largest city on the big island of Hawaii.

The 521-key resort property rests on lava flows that overlook the Pacific Ocean. The re-development of the property, which boasts Hawaii’s longest water slide, cost more than $70 million, according to Sonnenblick-Goldman. The property was known as the Kona Surf Hotel before reopening in April as the Sheraton Keauhou Bay.

“This was a complex financing because the property had just re-opened,” says Douglas Hercher, managing director of Sonnenblick-Goldman’s Capital Markets Group. “Nevertheless, numerous lenders expressed a strong interest in the property because of the quality of the renovation and the strength of the development and management team.”

Sonnenblick-Goldman has completed $2 billion worth of lodging transactions so far in 2005.